Insults and whistles for a grotesque closure in Monza: "The FIA ​​​​is not up to it"

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The long shadow of the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP filtered again for the second consecutive week in the World Championship.

To the misfortune of

, race director, the disbelief of

and the anger of thousands of

.

Just seven days after two last-minute mishaps changed the course of events in Zandvoort,

's breakdown reopened the devil's box in Monza.

The lackluster finish under the

victory to

, who was booed on the podium by the Italian fans.

Chronology of events

On lap 47, as Verstappen cruised comfortably to victory, 13 seconds ahead of Leclerc, Ricciardo suffered a mechanical setback and had to park his car midway through Turns 6 and 7 (Lesmo 1 and Lesmo 2).

After a period of yellow flags, when Wittich realized that the stewards would not be able to get the McLaren out without help, he ordered the

out on lap 48. Almost immediately,

,

, Leclerc and Verstappen went through the

to mount a set of soft tires.

Russell returned to the track behind

, where he stayed for nearly three laps.

On lap 51, Wittich allowed the laps to overtake the

, so Verstappen led the pack.

However, two doubles (

and

) got between the leader and Leclerc.

By the time everyone was through the Lesmo corners on lap 52, the tow truck had already removed Ricciardo's car.

At that point there was a huge gap between Russell, third, and

, the last of the non-dubbed.

Instead of returning to action with a relaunched start, Wittich informed the teams that the race would end after

.

Immediately, Leclerc showed his disagreement through a radio message.

"This is a big joke. Come on, please, if the track was clear. This is F1. What are you doing?" lamented the Monegasque, deprived of the option of attacking Verstappen in the final meters.

Outrage spread around the perimeter of the Autodromo Nazionale, which greeted the winner at the finish line with whistles.

During the podium ceremony, the ferraristas continued with their complaints: "

", they shouted.

What were the alternatives?

First, Wittich could have acted more promptly in deciding to enter the

.

However, as happened with Tsunoda a week ago at Zandvoort, it took him two minutes to make the decision, despite the fact that Ricciardo's car had run aground in an area of ​​obvious danger.

Having seen the difficulties in retiring the McLaren, the race director could well have decreed a red flag period.

If this option was chosen, all the cars would have returned to the

so that the crane would have the necessary time.

In this way, the victory would have been elucidated after a restart, with the usual green flag conditions.

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According to the official explanation of the FIA, the incident was not "significant enough" to require the aforementioned red flag.

In the opinion of this spokesman, "everything possible" was done to recover the McLaren, but "the situation became complicated and the stewards could not put the car in neutral to push it towards the road."

illustrious precedents

The closest and most famous example dates back to the aforementioned 2021 Abu Dhabi GP. After an accident by

with five laps to go,

, then race director, took out the

and quickly allowed the cars to unfold.

Once this procedure was completed, he returned to the green flag, thus opening the possibility that Verstappen pounced on

, to snatch victory and the World Cup from him.

Since 1993, when the

was brought back through the efforts of

, F1 has seen a further 12 races finish under this safety car.

The first was the 1997 Canadian GP, ​​with the victory of

after an accident by

, although the most remembered was the 2012 Brazilian GP, ​​when

lost his title options after the crash against the wall of

.

The Spaniard was no longer able to catch

in the last two laps and

was crowned for the third time.

Over the past two decades,

has always been the man behind the

's wheel .

Despite his extensive experience, the German driver did not know how to place himself in front of Verstappen this time, but remained ahead of Russell, perhaps thinking that the Briton was the leader.

Horner, in the line of Binotto

Among the reactions of the protagonists stood out, above the rest, that of

, head of Ferrari, who launched a harsh barrage against the FIA, whom he accused of "not being up to the task".

"They are still too cautious when making certain decisions," stressed the

red team, downplaying the whistles of the red fans to Verstappen.

"They were going to the FIA," he noted.

Verstappen, on Sunday, after the 'safety car' in Monza.AP

Less obvious were the stances of

and

, his counterparts at Red Bull and Mercedes.

Despite Verstappen's triumph, which leaves his leader with a 116-point advantage in the World Cup, Horner regretted the decaffeinated final.

"For many years we have talked about the fact that races should end with a green flag and this time there was time for it," he endorsed.

"We share the disappointment of the fans, because they have deprived us of the emotion", fastened the Briton.

Wolff's version was somewhat more cunning, with the events of Yas Marina still fresh in memory.

"This time they have followed the rules, as it should be," said the Silver Arrows boss.

"Maybe they could have done it a lap earlier, or let Russell through, but they followed the rules," confirmed the Austrian.

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